Yurburg is situated on the right hand shore of the
Nieman (Nemunas) river where the tributaries Mituva and Imstra
converge. The town used to be about 12 km (7.5 miles)to the east of
the Prussian border, surrounded by woods. It began as a stronghold of
the Knights Order of the Cross in the 13th century named Georgenburg
or Jurgenburg, but after the border between Lithuania and Germany was
defined in 1422, Yurburg became a border town and a customs point.
During the 13th century the importance of Yurburg increased due to
the harvesting of trees in the surrounding woods for commercial
purposes, when the logs were floated on the Nieman river to Prussia.
Thanks to the ethnic diversity of its inhabitants, its location on a
main sailing route - the Nieman - and its proximity to Prussia,
Yurburg became a communication and commercial center between east and
west. During Russian rule (1795-1915) the town was included in the
Kovno Gubernia (province).

As a result of railway construction and road
improvement in the region during the 19th century, sailing on the
Nieman subsided and the growth of Yurburg slowed down. The town was
taken over by rebels for a short time during the Polish mutiny in
1831, but after the mutiny was repressed by the Tzar, Yurburg
returned to its former life.

German culture from across the border influenced
the social life greatly and affected the mode of living in town,
which also continued to be the case during the period of
Lithuanias independence (1918-1940).

Because of its topographic situation and location
between the two rivers and the Nieman, the town frequently suffered
from floods. In 1862 eighty houses were inundated and their residents
rescued themselves by climbing onto the roofs.Yurburg also suffered
from fires, the greatest fires being in 1906 when 120 of its houses
burnt down.

Jewish Settlement till after World War
I

Yurburg was first mentioned in the book of Rabbi
Meir ben Gedalyah (1558-1616) from Lublin "Sheloth uTeshuvoth"
(Questions and Answers) concerning the case of an "Agunah" (deserted
wife) whose husband had been killed in Yurburg. The testimonies of
this case were reported in 1593 and 1597. During the period of the
autonomous organization of Jewish communities in Lithuania "Va'ad
Medinath Lita" (1623-1764), Yurburg was included in the Keidan
district, and by 1650 there were already 7 Jewish houses in
town.

In the middle of the 17th century, some Yurburg's
Jews earned their living by renting the right to collect taxes for
the government in Yurburg, Birzh and other towns, and this was done
under the cover of Christians.

At the beginning of the 18th century the community
wanted to replace the officiating Rabbi, but he complained to the
authorities and received a " letter of protection " from the
king.

On the 17th of November 1714 Rabbi Aizik.
Leizerovitz was mentioned in an official document, but detailed
information of Jewish settlement of Yurburg exists only from 1766. At
this time there were 2,333 Jews in the town who owned a few prayer
houses, among them the magnificent wooden Synagogue built in 1790,
one of the oldest in Lithuania. There was also a Jewish cemetery, as
well as welfare and religious education institutions. In 1862 there
were 2,550 Jews in Yurburg.

Yurburg Jews suffered during the Polish mutiny in
1831. A local resident, Reuven Rozenfeld, was hanged by rebels, who
blamed him for aiding the Russian rulers. After the mutiny was
quelled, a trial of those involved in the hanging took place for many
months, among the accused was a Jew named Tuviyah ben Meir
Danilevitz. After being imprisoned in Rasein for 13 months, he was
acquitted due to lack of evidence.

In 1843
the Czar issued an order stipulating that Jews living in an area
within 50 km of the western border of Russia should be transferred to
some of the Gubernias (provinces) inside Russia. Yurburgs
community was one of 19 communities that refused to obey this
order.

Most of Yurburg Jews made their living from the
timber trade, floating timber to Germany, commerce, customs
commission, transport and shopkeeping. In 1865 a branch of one of the
greatest commercial firms in Germany "Hausman et Lunz" opened in
town.

The local garrison was also situated there,
providing a living for Jewish merchants. In 1861 Jewish soldiers of
the garrison donated money for writing a new "Torah Scroll", which
was later brought into the synagogue by the Jewish soldiers, with due
festivity. The celebration was attended by respected local people,
headed by the commander of the garrison.

At the end of the 1880s a cooperative credit
company was established, for which it took three years to receive
permission from the authorities.

As a result of the general atmosphere in Yurburg,
the "Haskalah" (Enlightenment) movement flourished there among the
Jews more than in Zhamut's (Zemaityja region) other communities. This
was demonstrated by the cooperation of the community heads in the
establishment of a quite modern Talmud-Torah in 1884, where 100 poor
children studied, and in addition to religious subjects, Hebrew and
grammar, mathematics and Russian were also taught. Members of the
management of this institution were: L.Valk, M.H. Kostin and L.Boger,
one of the teachers being the famous Hebrew writer Avraham Mapu.
Although the school was under the supervision of the government, its
financial maintenance was mainly the responsibility of the community.
Due to the fact that the 900 Rubles received from the "Meat tax" was
not sufficient, the community heads appealed to former Yurburgers in
New York, Saint Louis and Rochester in the United States for help. A
partial list of donors (who donated from $0.50 to $750) was published
in the Hebrew newspaper "HaMeilitz" in July 1889.

The Yurburg Jewish institutions also served
smaller Jewish communities in the vicinity, such as Shaudine,
Pakelnishok, Gaure. (After World War there were no more Jews in
Pakelnishok).

In the Hebrew newspaper "HaMagid" from 1872 there
is a list of 39 Utyan donors of assistance for starving Persian Jews.
(see Jewishgen-Database-HaMagid-by Jeffrey Maynard).

During the years of famine (1869-1872) which
affected many parts of Lithuania, Yurburg suffered less and its
Jewish residents donated money to needy communities. The fund raisers
were Yitshak-Aizik Volberg and Shelomoh Bresloi.

In a list of donors for the Settlement of
Eretz-Yisrael dated 1896, names of 20 Yurburg Jews appear (see
Appendix 3). The
fundraisers were Tsevi Fain and Avraham-Yitshak Kopelov.

In the old Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem there is a
headstone of Rivkah Gitel bat Mordehai Margalioth from Yurburg.
During World War I many of Yurburgs Jews left the town, some
returning later.

During Independent Lithuania
(1918-1940)

After the establishment of independent Lithuania,
Yurburg was included in the Raseiniai district. The number of Jewish
residents in Yurburg was smaller than before as some of those who had
left did not return and also due to immigration abroad. However,
their proportion amongst the whole population increased, as can be
seen from the first census performed by the government in 1923. There
were 4,409 residents including 1,887 Jews (43%), while in 1897 there
were 7,391 residents, of them 2,350 Jews (32%).

In 1922 the elections for the first Lithuanian
Seimas (Parliament) took place, with 774 Utyan Jews participating.
477 voted for the Zionist list, 199 for the Democrats and 98 for the
religious list "Akhduth".

According to the autonomy law for minorities
issued by the new Lithuanian government, the minister for Jewish
affairs, Dr. Max Soloveitshik, ordered elections to be held in the
summer of 1919 for community committees in all towns of the state. In
Yurburg a committee was only elected five years later, in 1924, after
much pressure from the National institutions of Lithuanian Jewry
(Va'ad HaAretz). The committee (Va'ad) comprised 5 members of the
Workers list, 3- Zionist-Merchants, 2-Religious, 2-Democrats, 1-
"Tseirei-Zion" , 1- Mizrahi and 1-a representative of the butchers.
The committee, which collected taxes as required by law and was in
charge of all aspects of community life, was active till the end of
1925 when the autonomy was annulled.

At right:
stamp of the office of the Minister for Jewish Affairs

At left: stamp
of the Jewish National Council in Lithuania

Among the 14 members at the local council (later
the municipality) elected in 1924, 6 were Jews, one of them serving
as deputy chairman and another as a member of the management. The
elections of 1931 resulted in 3 Lithuanians, 1 German and1 Russian
being elected, as well as 5 Jews: Z. Levitan, M. Shimonov, Y.
Grinberg, Sh .Zundelevitz, Adv.H. Naividel, one of them as deputy
chairman. In the elections of 1934, when two Jewish lists were
presented, 4 Jews, 4 Lithuanians and 1 German were elected.

During this period, as previously, Yurburgs
Jews made their living from trade with timber, fish, poultry, fruits
and eggs that were exported to Germany. Others dealt in crafts,
fishing and shipping, a large part of economic activity taking place
on weekly market days (Monday and Thursday) and during the 24 annual
fairs.

. According to the government survey of 1931 there
were 75 businesses in Yurburg, 69 being owned by Jews (92%).

The list of trders according to the type of
business is given in the table below:

Type of the business

Total

Owned by Jews

Groceries

3

3

Grain and Flax

4

4

Butcher's shops and Cattle Trade

13

9

Restaurants and Taverns

4

2

Food Products

9

9

Beverages

2

2

Textile Products and Furs

13

13

Leather and Shoes

4

4

Haberdashery and Utensils

6

6

Medicine and Cosmetics

3

3

Radio, Bicycles, Sewing Machines

1

1

Tools and Steel Products

5

5

Heating Materials

3

3

Books and Stationary

1

1

Others

4

4

According to the same survey there were 19 light
industries in Yurburg, including 18 owned by Jews (95%), as can be
seen in the following table:

The Jewish popular bank (Folksbank), established
in 1922, which later had up to 400 members, played an important role
in the economic life of Yurburgs Jews. Among the great
businesses in town the private bank of the Bernshtein family, the
"Export-Handel" company and the shipping companies in the Nieman
river, should be mentioned.

One of the steamships wharfing in
Yurburg

By 1939 there were 116 phone owners, 41 of them
belonging to Jews.

Throughout the ages mutual tolerance existed
between the different ethnic groups in Yurburg, and this also
continued during Lithuanian rule. However, there were exceptions from
time to time, as in 1919, when Yurburg Jews complained to the
minister for Jewish affairs in Kovno about a decision by the local
authorities that all signs should be in the Lithuanian language only.
Previously there had been some signs on Jewish shops in Yiddish or in
Hebrew. One of the factors that fostered strong mutual relations was
the local branch of the Organization of Jewish Combatants for the
Independence of Lithuania, but during the thirties a significant
decline took place in the relations between local Lithuanians,
Germans and their Jewish neighbors. It expressed itself by the
suppression of Jewish commerce, such as the closing of the
"Export-Handel" company, in assaults and in the burning of Jewish
property, i.e. the flour mill of the Fainberg family.

To the deterioration of the economic situation of
Yurburgs Jews, the lower and middle classes in particular,
added the many fires and floods caused by the rising water level in
the Nieman during the melting of the ice.

Yurburg was famous in Lithuania for its
nationalistic atmosphere and Hebrew culture that dominated it. One of
the two public parks was almost officially called "Tel-Aviv," and the
Hebrew high school was called "Herzl" after the founder of the
Zionist organization. In addition to the old Talmud Torah which was
turned into a modern elementary school, a new Hebrew school of the
"Tarbuth" chain was also established. There was a public Yiddish
library called after "Mendele Mokher Sefarim" and a Hebrew library
called after Y.H.Brener.

The "Maccabi" sports organization with about 100
members, an urban Kibbutz of HeHalutz named "Patish" and branches of
all Zionist parties, were established. There was also much activity
by Zionist youth organizations, such as "HaShomer-HaTsair", "Beitar "
and "Benei-Akiva"

The table below shows how Yurburg Zionists voted
for the different parties at five Zionist Congresses:

Congress Nr.

Year

Total Shkalim

Total Voters

LaborParty

Z"S..... Z"Z

Revision

ists

General Zionists

A ....... B

Grosmanists

Mizrachi

15

1927

64

40

29 ......... 6

---

5 .......--

--

---

16

1929

118

44

28 ......... 2

11

3 ...... --

--

---

17

1931

53

40

20 ...... 10

4

6 ....... --

--

---

18

1933

---

143

101

19

9 ....... --

10

4

19

1935

---

359

257

---

14 ... 40

19

29

Yurburg "Beitar" camp-about
1937

The Leftist-Yiddishist movement, the "Jewish
Knowledge Society" and the sports organization the "Jewish Workers
Club" were also active among Yurburgs Jews. Communist youth too
had their supporters.

Newspaper seller with "DiYiddishe
Shtime" in his hand

During Nazi rule a member of the illegal Communist
youth organization named Yekutiel Elyashuv, who had managed to escape
to Russia at the beginning of the war, was parachuted in Lithuania.
He fell in battle.

(For the list of Rabbis who served in Yurburg
during the years, see Appendix
1)

(For a partial list of personalities born or
living in Yurburg, see Appendix
2)